Day 236-239: Last Days in Jaipur

I can't believe this trip is really almost over! After Nawras left, reality sank in a bit. I started the good old job search, started organizing my things, packed, and watched a lot of good television shows and movies. We didn't leave the house grounds for 4 days! Pretty amazing, actually.

I decided that since I am not spending Christmas in India that I could bring a little Christmas here. What better way to do it than by feeding the Sinha family a good old fashioned Ewing Christmas dinner! Is there turkey? No, not really. Are there marshmallows? No. Are there fried onions? No, but is that going to stop us! Of course not!

We worked with chicken, no marshmallows for my sweet potato casserole (apparently it is already sweet enough - which I think is false. It can never be too sweet. Oh, and this is a side dish. Every American will swear it is until the day they die), and we actually had to fry real onions (gasp! Blasphemy. Who does such things!). It turned out and the family loved it. What is there not to love? This combo is American at it almost finest. Plus, some people might say it's just a bit healthier with a few of those friend/sweet elements missing. I think it's just not as delicious!

Pallavi's mom made an amazing apple pie to top it off. She asked if I liked apple pie. How silly! It's un-American to not like apple pie. There is practically the design of an American flag in that lattice crust if you look hard enough.

We played games and drank this amazing Spanish egg nog meets Bailey's meets spiced liquor. If time here has to end, what a great way to end our time here.

Day 235: Trip to Jaipur Airport

Nawras unfortunately only could take a few days of holiday to come to India before returning back to Dubai for an important presentation. We tried to convince her in many different ways to stay. This persuasion phase is a common Sinha family move. They are very good and really know how to pull your heartstrings. However, it failed.

At 1:30 a.m., we needed to leave to drop Nawras and her hubby off to the airport. Pallavi hasn't drive to the airport by herself in quite some time and the roads have changed significantly. As a result, she doesn't know the way to the airport. Normally, Pallavi's dad would drive, but we didn't feel right about keeping him up so late when he has to get up at 7:00 a.m. We were on our own.

Needless to say, Pallavi's parents wanted to make sure that we got there in one piece. Her dad, feeling responsible for us, pulled out his GPS and taught me how to use it. He even pre-programmed the route to the airport. Her mom also walked her through the verbal/visual directions. All set, ready to go, we got into the car, turned on the GPS, and set off.

We immediately started to ignore the GPS directions in lieu of the verbal/visual directions. Then, once we got to a point where Pallavi no longer recognized the route, we started following the GPS. Maybe what followed next wouldn't have happened had we not missed one of the turns. Next thing we know, we need to turn around. We can't just take a U-turn. Oh no. That would be too easy. Instead the GPS told us to turn left. Pallavi looked at the left and kept going, saying, "no way the GPS could mean that alley." Then it told us to turn left again. By this point, it was 2:00 a.m. The flight was a 4:00 a.m. Most check-in counters close 90 minutes before the departure time. We don't have time to be choosy. We need to just get to the airport! So, we turned left.

We then proceeded to follow some sequence of dirt alleys all the way through the back end of Jaipur. We joked that we were just giving them a last minute tour of Jaipur, since we hadn't really done any touristy things around the town while they were here. At one point we passed a camel parked outside somebody's home. We were so in the middle of nowhere that we had passed where the poor camel men live. Now, of course, it's 2:10 a.m. by this point, and Pallavi is rushing -  driving an SUV, with some speed, over all of the dips in the dirt road. She tried to be careful, but at one point, Nawras joked that she had just broken on of the bones in her body courtesy of one of those dips.

Finally, we make it to a main road and we see the end in the sight. The GPS has a little finish line flag on it. We pull up, ready to turn into the airport. What do we see? A closed military gate. The GPS had brought us to the opposite side of the airfield!

Quickly, Nawras' hubby puts on the GPS on his phone and we re-programme our GPS. It's 2:15 a.m. and we are 20 minutes away from the entry! We speed towards the airport. We got there at 2:27. Phew! We dropped them off without any problem.

So much for a GPS though!

Day 234: Pushkar & Ajmer

The Sinha family decided to show Nawras and her hubby one of Rajasthan's most iconic tourist towns: Pushkar. Pushkar is the home of the world's only Brahma temple. Hinduism has one god, who comes in many forms, 3 of which are primary forms: Brahma - the creator, Shiva - the destroyer, and Vishnu - the sustainer. Apparently Brahma had to do penance in Pushkar, and needed to make some prayer by a lake at sundown which can only be done alongside his wife. When his wife didn't come on time, the priests found some other local woman and married her to him, and then did the prayer. Then when the wife finally came out, there was hell to pay! She cursed him and told him that he wasn't fit to have a temple to his name. In the end though, she felt bad and told him, alright, you can have one temple here where you did your penance, because the place is so important to you.

Now, most Hindu gods are pretty groovy. One of them is even often depicted smoking hash. It is no great surprise that a place like this one would be a primary stop on the hippie trail. Times may have changed, but the amount of foreign hippies in this place certainly hasn't! This is the kind of town with one lane roads, lined with bulls and cows, Hindu priests all making their rounds, and white Europeans buying bongs.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to spend in this town before we went to Ajmer. In the morning, while we all sat down to discuss the plan, Pallavi's dad mentioned that there is a Durga located in Ajmer. This Durga is a holy place for almost every one of India's religions, and is the 2nd most holy place for Indian Muslims to Mecca. It contains the 'grave' of a sufi saint, who apparently sent his disciples away for a few days and stayed in his room, and, when they went to check on him 10 days later, discovered that a bed of flowers had replaced his body. They didn't even know he had died!

This place was absolutely mad! Now, Pallavi's family used to live in Ajmer, where her Dad was the commanding officer of the local military unit. As such, her Dad still has contacts there, so he had arranged a police escort and an Imam to help us break through the throngs of crowds. This was Islam meets India meets other religions. I haven't been so fascinated by India in a few trips. We moved through a heaving throng of people, past huge 400 kgs pots filled with food and money, past the Hindi wedding-style music playing, the men all sitting and sing/praying in the courtyard, the women tying cords to the edge of the grave in hopes their prayers come true, the men carrying offerings of flowers on their head, and pushed our way through the door to stand alongside the 'grave.' The Imam then did a blessing over our heads using a certain kind of cloth that had been placed on top of the grave. Then he tied cords for protection over our heads.

It was Incredible India at its finest! 

Day 230-233: Jaipur

I have roughly 10 days left in my journey and we decided to come back to Jaipur, Pallavi's hometown. Pallavi's friend, Nawras, and she have a pact to see each other once every year. Last year and earlier this year, it proved too difficult to coordinate; however, Nawras found a flight to Jaipur on 1st December for 5-6 days. Hence, we came back to Jaipur when we did.

We arrived mostly relaxed from our Business Class journey, visited with family, and then started the sleep deprived, anti-jet lag process. I do not jet lag. I refuse to start now. However, to not jet lag requires a bit of a painful process. You can't be fully rested and you have to push yourself through your tiredness to adjust your time clock. Whatever the time difference is, you must make sure that you fall asleep on time, on local time, on the very first day. If you do that, you will wake up on local time without any difficult. What's the problem in our scenario? 

It's a 4.5 hour time difference between India and Spain. We didn't sleep on our flight to Jaipur because we wanted to take advantage of our Business Class perks. This delayed bedtime meant we didn't sleep until the equivalent of 7:30 a.m. in Spain. To fall asleep at the appropriate time, we needed to wake ourselves from our sleep prematurely as if we had a nap.Okay, that is all well and good, but what time is Nawras and her hubby arriving? 3:30 a.m.! That meant that even if we sleep at 9:30 p.m. (which we did), we would still wake at 11:30 p.m., as if we just took a long nap! 

It is no surprise that we all stayed up talking until 9 a.m. after Pallavi picked up Nawras et. al from the airport. How in the world we only got 8 hours of sleep within a 48 hour period of time is definitely anti-bad backpackers. We've gotten so use to getting 10 hours of sleep every night that we winge if we only get 7. Good thing we have a few days of 'relaxing' around Jaipur before we start their tourism itinerary. 

Day 229: Flying Business Class

When we looked at flights back to India from Istanbul for my last pit stop before the US, flights from there cost approximately $500 AUD and something or 20,000 miles plus $350 USD. However, after a lot of plug and chug options, we realized we could fly to Spain and for an additional 10,000 miles, 30,000 total, plus $125 USD, we could fly Business Class on Etihad Airlines to India. Sold!

I've been saving my miles for years and rarely can I find a reasonable reason to upgrade and enjoy the Business Class. What better reason than ringing out our 8 months of backpacking on a luxurious note.

Etihad is one of the nicest airlines in the world and we were flying on one of their nicest aircrafts. A nicely groomed chauffeur in a tailored white suit picked us up for free in our Mercedes Sedan from our hotel to start our Business Class experience. At first, we were a little embarassed about the fact that we were getting picked up from a hotel labeled "Hostal," bu then we figured the driver didn't know whether or not we were trust fund babies just trying to 'tough it out,' so why not own it. Our flight was at 9:30 a.m., so it was really nice to just get into a car at 6:30 a.m. instead of having to navigate our own way to the airport.

Once we got to the airport, obviously we went through the expedited and extra-customer service friendly Business/First Class check-in and airport security, and then went right into the Premier Lounge to relax, have my first cup of coffee for the day, and eat a small breakfast. I didn't realize how stressful the general pre-flight experience actually is until we finally arrived on our airport completely relaxed!

We got to our seats and sat down on our Airbus A320 and immediately were served champagne. Our seats had in-built 4-area, 2 setting massage facilities, which I proceeded to use for the next 7 hours (plus the 3.5 hours on the next flight). We had little amenity kits waiting for us, which includes not just the standard high-end eyemask, flight socks, and earplugs, but also facial lotion and lip balm. The bathroom also had face mist and hand lotion. I had no idea how dehydrated my face gets in flight!

Our seats also lay down completely flat, which I only tried once, just to say that I had tried out every setting on the seat. I then got to taking complete advantage of the endless flow of mimosas and food, while we went on our comfortable movie marathon, with our feet stretched out, wrapped in our uber comfy blankets. I swear, I never want to fly economy again!

Day 228: Madrid

When we tried to figure out which airport offered us the lowest associated costs alongside my American Airline miles, the lovely AA person I spoke with told me that she couldn't get me out of Barcelona. She told me, I can get you out of Madrid.... maybe..... nope.... yes... maybe you'll just have to take a train to Madrid. Additionally, we wanted to spend extra time with Elena in Valencia without sacrificing our already short time in Barcelona. What did that leave us with on our Spain itinerary? One afternoon in Madrid.

It turned out to be just the right amount. We used a popular European share car service to get the 300 kms from Valencia to Madrid. It's a cool system. If you are driving to a certain location, you select the departure time, arrival time (based on your knowledge of the route), the pickup and drop off location, and the price per seat in your car and then you can 'rent' your car seats. Our driver, Tony, works for the Spanish National Police, and had to drive to Madrid for work. Did we learn much about what the Spanish National Police do? No. Did Tony get to practice his English with us? Yes! His English is way better than my limited Spanish anyway.

We got to Madrid and immediately got to exploring the place. We had two items on our agenda: the Palacio Real and the Prado art museum. Everything was within 1.5 kms of each other, so we got a chance to walk around the city. I can now understand how and why Spanish territories all have a certain look to them. Madrid architecture has the exact same feel and design. The churches all have what I know to be typically Latin look (obviously, it's a Madrid look). However, Madrid itself doesn't have the same charm as Barcelona. It appears to be the kind of city that is fantastic for world-class museums, night-life, and history; however, it certainly isn't the place you go for charm. At least not in my opinion.

We walked to the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace, past the Plaza Mayor (which not only held bull-fights and parts of the Spanish Inquisition, but is now the location of the happening Christmas market), only to find the Palacio Real was closed for some event. We then started our walk to the Prado museum. The Prado is on par with the Louvre, known for having works by El Greco and Goya. The museum also has this great art appreciation scheme where it opens to people for the last 2 hours of the day for free. We stood in our queue and went and saw some amazing art! Thankfully my Lonely Planet had the museum highlights by room, or else we would have missed so much of the Prado's great works.

After we had finished, we walked around for the evening, but we ended up feeling so cold that even though it was the last night of our trip, we just took a hot shower and went to bed, ready for our early morning airport pickup. 

Day 225-227: Valencia

Seeing my old friend Elena in Valencia played a significant factor when Pallavi and I decided to come to Spain before heading back to India. Elena is just as gracious a host today as she was the first time I visited. She had prepared the house just like an AirBNB - there was a map, a loaded metro card, a tourist book, and various welcome signs all over the house. 

While Elena went to work, we happily went and explored Valencia. Valencia is such a cute 'small' town of 2 million people. It seems so incredibly different in terms of culture and feel than Barcelona. Valencia always feels 'brighter.' Maybe that is because it is sunny and 'warm' all of the time. We froze when the sun went down in Barcelona. In Valencia, the sun goes down and it is still a 'balmy' 15 degrees. No hats and gloves needed here people! 

However, there isn't that much to do in Valencia. At least not in terms of historical sights, etc. Valencia is more of an experience. Apparently, I do not remember much about any of Spain from my previous visit; however, only after visiting it again do I realize that Elena took me on the best of the best that Valencia has to offer. I really must remember Valencia Take 2! 

We went to see the beach and watched some guy continue to get stung by jellyfish as he fruitless and stupidly tried to bathe himself in the Mediterranean. Dead jellyfish littered the beach! It's not like the stings should have surprised him, at least not continually. Yet, this guy got stung, ran away swearing, and then re-approached the ocean again, only to get stung. Dumb!

Pallavi and I also explored the old city. Did you know that Valencia played a key role in the silk trade? Or that it has a bull fighting ring? I did not! Later, Elena took us out on Friday night to a meetup in the old city. We walked around, slightly lost, looking for the venue. I asked Elena, "isn't this your city? You've lived here your whole life. Shouldn't you know your way around?" To which she replied in a hushed tone, "This area isn't my area. I don't like it. The streets are narrow and you can't see around the corner." My response, "the streets are wider, it doesn't smell like pee, and it's well lit. It's an amazing old city!"  Oh, perspective!

We found the venue, which was an English-language/cooking school. Great concept and well targeted in terms of the meetup group. Elena's meetup is a group of people who want to speak English. If I ever re-learn Spanish, I must participate in similar groups to this one. It's a great way to practice. The night continued to a few different pubs and a bad club, but at least now we know the nightlife in Valencia. 

Elena also spent her Saturday coordinating a lovely day out to the 'country' for us. She first took us walking around Valencia's state-of-the-art Arts and Science Center. As we walked around, warmed by the sun, hardly needing a light sweater, Elena pointed out a political gathering of some kind. The previous day, Pallavi had asked Elena the name of the Spanish president. He isn't discussed much on the news! Everybody knows the German chancellor, the British PM, the French president, and the Italian president who is always sleeping with lots of women; however, nobody knows the Spanish president. We went down to the basement and when we came back up, Elena's husband told us that the Spanish president was in that building. That building! The one with no security. The building we had just casually gone downstairs and used the bathroom in. We could have taken God knows what into the bathroom with us and left without anybody knowing. Sure there were a few guards with guns situations all around the park, but those are only a few people! No wonder nobody knows who the Spanish president is. Even his own people know that nobody cares enough about him to require additional security. I kid. Mostly. But still! Where was the security?! Even the Australian PM has more security than this guy! 

We then went a whole 16 kms outside of Valencia to a town called El Palmar, but it was like stepping into another world. Just 500 meters from the sea, exists a landlocked freshwater lagoon that is over 2500 hectares large. This area is filled with traditional one-room, A-frame, thatch-covered traditional Valencian fishing homes. Additionally, every historical sign is written in both Valencian and Spanish. Personally, I could barely tell which from which, so I'm not sure how much of a difference actually exists between the two. Also, I asked Elena if she speaks Valencian. No! What kind of Valencian is she. She claims it's because her parents came from outside of Valencia (although in the same province), which is why not only does she not speak Valencian, but she also doesn't have a single one of the traditional costumes from the area. Jorge, on the other hand, showed me that indeed Valencian culture is alive and well in his family, where he and his parents all speak Valencian. Whew! 

We went out for a huge traditional lunch with rice that comes out on a pan the size of your entire over. The key to eating said rice? Scraping the pan to get the carmelization off of the bottom. Elena had then arranged for us to go on a boat ride at sunset around the lagoon. It was such a perfect end to a perfect trip. 

Next stop, Madrid for a day for our last full day backpacking.